Options have been laid out: A tax on carbon as suggested by former Secretary of State George Shultz and others is one idea. The Save Our Climate Act, for example, would have required industry to pay a steadily rising fee on carbon pollution and given much of the revenue back to households to cushion against rising prices. But there are other options, too. Cap-and-trade is a policy that conservatives once favored and then reviled. It deserves another look.

Congratulations James Hansen and Michael Mann. You have achieved things which Osama bin Laden could only hope for in his wildest dreams. You have abused your inside position of trust in a completely unprecedented fashion, and turned a great nation into a bunch of driveling idiots.